The Energon Pub

by **Greyryder** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 12:08 am

I'm not usually fond of cartoon acurate, but I do preffer the look of the smaller arm guns the Deceptijets had on the cartoon. I've started building smaller guns for my Classics seekers. Part of the reason for these is to minimize the interference between the guns and wings. Skywarp's guns will have a few differences from Starscream's.

Just a few different bits of tubing, and some scraps from sheet material.

by **DTM** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 7:14 am

I like the ones you made. They give the arm a wide range of movement without moving the wings back. The metal bar looks like a cool thing to make it with

by **Greyryder** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 3:38 pm

Thanks guys.

Asphalt, the tip is just another chunk of styrene tubing, that I turned down with sanding sticks, and files.

DTM, the brass tube's nice to keep it from getting bent up easily. I need to make a battle damaged one, as well. That one will have a plastic barrel, so I can soften it up over a candle.

by **jimsloth** » Mon Apr 02, 2007 5:47 pm

ok, now I can scrap trying to find another set of blackout guns for my seekers. That looks sooo much better.

by **RavageX-9** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 10:20 am

well... they're definitely smaller... kind of... reminding us how pathetic Starscream is. :>
I think they're a bit too long right now.
Nice work though.

by **johndillinga2003** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 11:16 am

what if you made it so the tube could slide in and out of the housing like so the missile could be smaller in jet mode and extend outwards fully for bot mode?

Im surprised no one thought of that to ask :wink:

by **Greyryder** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 4:19 pm

I hadn't thought of that. I'd have to build a whole new square section, to fit in the necessary parts to keep the thing from pulling apart. The barrel hasn't been glued in yet, since I haven't decided on the length, yet. I was planning giving Starscream longer guns than Skywarp, though.

by **Greyryder** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 11:08 pm

Finished, now. Last picture also shows the battle damaged one I made for Starscream. He really shouldn't mouth off to Megatron, like that.

by **jimsloth** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 6:56 am

man I love skywarps. I love that you're doing slightly different detail work as well. One other detail I remember from the null rays, in front of the fins on the sides three diagonal grooves cut in. (tilted the same way you ended the square part on skywarps) You might be able to mimic it just with an exacto knife.

by **DTM** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 2:23 pm

i like the battle damaged one, it looks really cool

by **Greyryder** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 3:19 pm

Thanks, guys.

My previous attempts at scribing details have come out looking like ass, so I'm not even going to attempt to cut vents into Screamer's guns. It'd look pretty cool, if it was done well. I just don't think I could do it well.

by **jimsloth** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 4:01 pm

I know what you mean. Can be tricky to make it look machined. You could also get the look by layering thin sheets of styrene (maybe credit card thick) alternating thin, thick, thin, thick. Then once together file the edges to smooth it out and paint over the whole thing. Could use that one for Thundercracker, but then again, that would be a lot of effort for that little detail.

by **Nemesis Sturmvogel** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 8:08 pm

good job on that cannons, that's something nice.

by **REDLINE** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 2:07 am

so when are you gonna make a mold from these? :p

by **Tramp** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 2:25 am

Greyrider, instead of trying to scribe vents into plastic, just buy textured sheet styrene. For vents, I usually use styrene molded to look like clapboard siding or with V-grooves. Both come in various sizes of detailing depending on if you need vents that are small or large.

by **Greyryder** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 2:41 am

I have some scribed styrene that looks like siding. I have no plans to put vents on these. s far as I'm concerned, they're finished. I'm happy with them, as they are.

Sorry Redline, I don't know how to do castings.

by **Tramp** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 2:47 am

That's cool. It is an option though, and what I use when I need vents, so if you want to try it on a pair of guns or a later project, that is what I recommend. I brought it up because of your response to Jim's suggestion about the vents Starscream's null rays are supposed to have.